LIFELONG LEARNING PROGRAMME

• What is the Lifelong Learning Programme (LLP)
• The key elements of the LLP
• European and National coordination
• Documents

What is the Lifelong Learning Programme (LLP)?
The European Council of Lisbon in March 2000 marks a decisive step in the direction of EU policy and action. In its final conclusions it stated that Europe has entered the knowledge age and that this passage inevitably involves the cultural, economic and social life of the member states. The successful outcome of this transition, however, depends on a shift towards lifelong learning and training, at both an individual and institutional level, in all the spheres of public and private life. This led to a request to the Member States to establish coherent strategies and practical measures for the purposes of encouraging lifelong training for all.

There has been a long series of initiatives on a Community level aimed at implementing the conclusions of the Council of Lisbon. Among these particular mention should be made of the new Lifelong Learning Programme. Established under the Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 November 2006 (No.1720/2006/EC), the Community’s Lifelong Learning Programme (LLP), brings together all the initiatives of European cooperation in the field of education and training from 2007 to 2013. The programme also continues the training initiatives already adopted, such as Socrates and Leonardo da Vinci, which concluded in 2006, integrating them within a single framework.

The objective of the LLP is to contribute through lifelong learning to the development of the Community as a knowledge-based society, a force for sustainable economic development, a place for new and better jobs and at the same time a guarantor of protection of the environment for future generations (Lisbon strategy).

In particular, the LLP promotes exchanges, cooperation and mobility between the various education and vocational training systems of the member states, so that they become a benchmark of quality on a world level. This objective is almost perfectly in line with articles 149 and 150 of the Treaty of the Union, where it is stated that “The Community shall contribute to the development of quality education by encouraging cooperation between Member States and, if necessary, by supporting and supplementing their action…” (art.149) and that “The Community shall implement a vocational training policy which shall support and supplement the action of the Member States…” (art.150).

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• 4 sectoral programmes: Comenius, Erasmus, Leonardo da Vinci, Grundtvig;
• A Transversal Programme coordinating the various sectors;
• The Jean Monnet Programme, which supports teaching and research for the purposes of greater European integration, involving, to this end, the key European institutions.

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European and National coordination
The LLP is run by the European Commission - DG Education and Culture – with the assistance of the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency and with the cooperation of the national agencies of the various participating countries.
As far as regards the National coordination, the Ministries of Labour, Health and Social Policies – the DG for Policies of Vocational Guidance and Training and the Ministry of Education, the Universities and Research – the DG for International Affairs and the DG for the University, have entrusted the running of the sub-programmes to two national agencies:

• National LLP Agency for the sectoral programmes Comenius, Grundtvig and Study Visits based in Florence. The Agency also has a branch office in Rome for the Erasmus Programme
• National LLP Agency for the Leonardo da Vinci Sectoral Programme, based in Rome and operating at the ISFOL.

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Documents

• Decision No.1720/2006/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 15 November 2006 (in Italian)